A few months ago, I came across Christopher's blog blitzeria and his photo projects. I was hooked straight away and always had it in the back of my mind, but somehow I didn't find the right thing.
But now I'm ready! And bring along a reflection from the Allgäu, a region in south Germany. This is a very recent picture - very unusual for me!
We hiked on the Wandertrilogie (hiking trilogy) and did stages 7 and 8 of the Wasserläufer (water strider) route - with more or less modifications along the hike. Lakes and cows are an integral part of these routes and I couldn't help but take a picture of the Alat lake.
Madeira didn't convince me to come back so soon. It's a beautiful place and left me marvelled. No question about this! And I speak only for myself here, and this is always a very subjective judgement eventually. My thoughts that make me doubt a (soon) return to Madeira:
I'm not an activity holiday person. And Madeira is especially fun if you're active and want to be out and about in nature a lot. Being ill puts an additional damper on that.
A car was very worthwhile to be here and there. Driving is generally so-so for me. Madeira's roads - uff, just by being the front-seat passenger, I didn't want to be the driver at all. Just the imagination discouraged me so much that I wouldn't know how to get around Madeira other than being driven. And this is quite restrictive.
Those were my two negative points which obviously carry some weight. Nonetheless, the holiday in Madeira was actually pretty relaxed. As I said, the landscape and scenery - wonderful. And that even includes the roads, especially the motorways. The construction of the roads, with their high stilts and winding roads, must be the fulfilment of every child who has built toy roads on the ground. Roads in the air!
Roads at height
Culinary-wise, you'd find some delights to try there. I remember a tomato soup which is a lot savoury than I remember the one in Germany. It was so good!
The climate was fascinating: within 20 minutes we were able to change from our summer outfits into rainproof autumn outfits. We quickly noticed the change in altitude by the change in temperature. The recommended onion look is absolutely justified here, as long as you move through different altitudes (which happens quickly).
Laurel forest
The towns of Camacha and Calheta were chosen based on possible hiking routes. They didn't offer that much by themselves.
Lisbon
In contrast to Madeira, I would like to see Lisbon again when I get the chance. It's a pretty city, even if some of the corners were dirty. There are dozens of cafés where you can sit and relax, the streets and alleys are romantic and make you want to see more. I saw too little in these 3.5 rainy days to have a final opinion. My first impression is: quite nice there.
Pretty sardine tins lined up nicely
(Click on the image to see it as a whole)
Miscellaneous
One final tip: We flew to Madeira via TAP Air Portugal and most flights go via Lisbon or Porto. Therefore, we decided to stay in Lisbon for a few days. At first we wanted to do it with an open jaw flight, but at that time the only option were more expensive economy seats. However, TAP Air Portugal actually offers multi-day layovers, thus, a normal return flight can be booked and no open jaw flight is necessary. Booking status: end of January 2024.
This is it, the end of the insights into my trip to Madeira and Lisbon. It was a pleasure – obrigada!
I have an update on my coriander today – fascinating observations!
Well, what was peeping out of the ground? A small plant appeared, and the seed was still attached to it. The seed was, so to speak, upended over the two cotyledons. It looked funny.
I took a photo in the morning. At lunchtime I transferred the photos and looked at them and found them to be not quite satisfactory. So I went back to the coriander seed with the camera and wanted to take more photos. But I hadn't reckoned with light and photosynthesis! The little plant had already developed further and the two leaves had now unfolded. Instead of the coriander seed being upended over both leaves, the seed was now only attached to one of the leaves. Hello cotyledons!
But the news doesn't stop there! It took me so long to get round to work on the photos that the first leaf, which is clearly recognizable as coriander, has grown in the meantime.
In the meantime, a few more days have passed and things are looking good. But I haven't tried the coriander leaves yet. Still to come!
Camera + lens: Sony alpha 99 + Minolta AF 100mm Macro f/2.8
Diese Website benutzt Cookies. Wenn du OK klickst, gehe ich von deinem Einverständnis aus.OK
